Just the Two of Us
by nohmaskofoblivion
Summary: A stand alone told from the perspectives of Gum and Cube. This was actually the first story I've ever written from 1st-person. It's not bad if I do say so myself. Please Read and Review.
1. Love Hotel

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**_I don't own JSRF…I DO own this fic so don't plagiarize… I decided to do this on a whim. _**

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**Okay…**_** Since I can't use this pairing for my main story, I decided to go for it in a stand alone. A/U, not an A/U to the game but to my main story. The character backgrounds are the same (though I haven't touched on most of them) but the story line is different (the only thing that remains the same is that Corn has been shot. The story is different from that point on.). There may be a few things here that I'll use in my main story but I'll have to decide on those things later. Like I said before, I just decided to go for it. Hope you like it.**_

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_**Love Hotel**_

_**Gum/Cube**_

**99****th**** Street, 4:30am**

To be honest when she joined our little group (well, there are twelve– technically thirteen– of us so I wouldn't say little) I thought that she might actually replace me. She has enough advantages over me: she's definitely smarter than me, she's stronger than me, she's got actual experience leading a gang, not just being a "co-leader." She came along and started to immediately contribute to the group. She's the one that caught Clutch and shook him down for info. Of all of us that went into the Fortified Residential Zone to find Yoyo (us, Corn, Beat, Combo and Clutch, whom we dragged along) she was the one that actually got to him and freed him, the rest of us got there in time to be shot at by a couple of fighter jets. Even before we actually got to Yoyo she took out most of the bombs the Rhinos had set up all over the place. She even handled that golden armed freak that was terrorizing Chuo, of course I was there to help but she did damn near all the work.

Honestly, at that point I really did feel that my status in the group was falling and hers was rising. I thought that she really would replace me. But you know what? She never tried to do that. She never tried to take my spot as the number two. I actually worked up the courage to ask her about it one day (when no one else was around of course) and she told me herself that that wasn't the case. She was used to doin' all that stuff herself anyway… maybe not the exact same stuff but I think you know what I mean. She said she wasn't used to being in a gang with so many individuals and that she thought she might have a little trouble getting acclimated and finding her place. I don't know how or why but we just started hanging out together. You ever make a friend that you didn't expect to make? I have now.

We don't really act like we're going out together. She just gets ready to leave and asks me if I'm coming. I usually say something like "well, I don't have anything better to do today anyway." It feels weird to be putting on that pseudo-charade because everyone knows we're friends. We go out every day. We hardly ever tell anyone where we're going; we never tell them when we're coming here. It bugs Corn a bit when we don't tell him; he likes to know where everyone is and what they're doing. It's not that he's a control freak or anything like that; it's just that he wants to make sure he knows where everyone is so we can avoid another "Yoyo situation." We aren't trying to alienate our friends, it's just that the garage gets a bit cramped sometimes. We like to be alone together sometimes. Anyway everyone has a place where they go to be alone or with one or two other friends: Clutch likes going to the far side of Kogane alone, Jazz and Boogie like going to the expo stadium, hell Combo and Garam share an apartment together.

Our spot is an abandoned love hotel in Benten off of 99th street. It's been abandoned for two months because there were a lot of rapes taking place here (management didn't do a good job of documenting who was coming in and whether the sex they were having was consensual). It was her idea to come in here. We were just skating around the Benten area when she got the idea to tag in here. We got to looking around and decided to just chill for a bit. We've been chilling here ever since. It's not a huge place, only seven floors. It's got… I don't know… maybe twenty or thirty rooms per floor. We don't really know because the only floor with any lighting in the halls is the fifth floor where we are now. The room we usually hang out in has outlets that work. But it doesn't have a bed so we go across the hall to another room (where, I might add, a brutal rape occurred) and we sleep there if we're tired. I don't like this room. I've been telling her that we should take the bed into our normal room or, better yet, a different bed entirely but she doesn't listen. Whatever.

When one of us sleeps the other sits in a chair next to the bed with a spiked baseball bat and protects them, you never know if someone might come in here one day. Her breathing changes and I know she's about to wake up. I hear her sit up. I can't see her because the room is so dark, only a few of the rooms on this floor have power. She's getting out of the bed now. "Gum? Are you there?" she whispers to me, she wants to make sure it's safe so she doesn't speak loudly. I hear her feet touch the floor.

"I'm here… how'd you sleep?" I sit my spiked bat on the floor.

"Okay I guess… what time is it?"

"I don't know. I can't see."

"Open the door and let the hall light come in." I did as she suggested. A large beam of dim light pierced the dark and a little bit of it touched her. She's standing there looking directly at me. God she's hot… I'm not saying that in a weird way… I'm just saying that she has a very impressive body, it's nearly flawless. Again, I'm not weird that way… of course it doesn't really help me to tell you that she was only sleeping in her panties. You know what… I'll just stop talking. "Where are my clothes?" she asks me as though I'd know where her clothes were. She was the one who decided to take it all off before she went to sleep in a rape bed that probably has jizz all over it, I didn't tell her too. I help her look for her clothes. It takes me a few minutes to find her tube top and she manages to find her pants. I wish I had a pair of pants like that; they make her ass look really good. I see her slide the tube top on. She picks her skates up off of the ground. She picks up a pair of black socks too; I guess she remembered where she put that shit. Kind of a weird thing to remember. "Come on." She smacks my ass as she passes behind me. I flinch when she does that. I smile though. I don't know when we started doing that to each other.

We cross the hall and go into the other room. The main room… we don't have a proper name for it yet (I'm leaning towards the cave but she wants to call it the black hole). I unlock the door and we enter. I love this fucking place. Really. I swear if the police ever find this place we'll be locked up for years. We've got a lot of stolen merchandise in here: a sound system that we had to take piece by piece, two eighteen inch televisions, three DVD players, two VHS players, black lights, strobe lights, some Christmas lights we took from a street vendor, glow wands, clocks, a flare gun, guns we took from the Golden Rhinos, fireworks, all type of alcohols, clothes, shoes, posters and flags, mangas, hentai mangas (that Yoyo thinks he lost… heh heh), a fountain, a humidifier, incense and incense burners, a couple of bonsai trees, a big Chinese mirror, a fucking Xbox and a PS2 (there aren't enough games for PS3 so we decided not to take one yet), games, a massage chair, a big plush panda (because Cube loves pandas even though they're pretty much only good for destroying bamboo) a couple of radios, an ass-load of CDs, a guitar and an amp, a small drum set, surfboards, skateboards, a football, a basketball, baseball bats, hockey sticks a puck and a net, a slip n' slide, blankets, six digital cameras, kimonos, parasols and umbrellas, a katana and a naginata. Oh and this one time we stole from a porn shop. The owner was trying to get us to be in a movie they were filming so we faked like we were interested and as soon as we went into the store we grabbed a shit-load of magazines and a big box of "toys." How the hell did we get away with taking all this shit? Good thing the room's big enough for all of it. Cube likes to joke that we have enough to put Clutch to shame… or behind bars if we can pin it on him. It's true, we do. He may be a klepto but he doesn't have the balls to take the kind of stuff we take, or the amount of stuff we take.

I look around as she turns on the Christmas lights we have connected to the extension cords that are all plugged into the outlets that actually work (we don't want to overload the extension cords so we don't plug in the stuff we aren't using). The Christmas lights come on. We have them all duct taped the ceiling and they're a beautiful sight when they're all on like they are now. It gets stuffy in this room so we like to keep the window open. The window's small as hell and we hung a Jolly Rodger over it so nobody would see the lights flash. I reach under the flag and push the window out. A few drops of rain hit my hand.

As I turn around Cube sits in the massage chair. I go into the bathroom and grab two things: a crate of cigars (which I failed to mention before) and a bag of orange Kush. I bring them out and push the crate to her. She opens it, reaches in and pulls out two cigars, one for me and one for her. She lights hers and starts smoking it. I sit in one of the leather chairs that were in the room when we first found it and cut open my cigar. I place it on a pizza box that's on the floor and I reach into the bag of weed pulling out a few ounces. I pick up another pizza box and place it on my lap so I can separate the stems and sticks from the bud. When I finish my task I take the tobacco out of the cigar and mix about half of it into the weed then role it up into the remains of the cigar. It burns the hell out of my throat. Cube doesn't smoke marijuana but she doesn't seem to mind that I do as long as I'm careful about the ashes. I prefer not to do it around the others (because I'll end up having to share with Corn, Beat, Jazz, Boogie, Garam and Clutch… and maybe Rhyth, I don't know), but she's cool about it so I light up around her if I feel like it.

Cube turns on the sound system and starts playing a U2 song I heard a thousand times before. She doesn't really like U2 but she plays their music for me because it relaxes me. She likes to be around me when I'm relaxed. The truth is I'm almost always relaxed, I just get a little edgy when I'm high. I notice that she's staring at me; it's making me a bit nervous. She isn't trying to scare me but it's still a little creepy. She does this all the time though; she's just playing with me. I stare back at her. She isn't blinking. Now that I'm staring at her in the dim, flashing Xmas lights, I'm actually getting a good look at her. I haven't gotten a good look at her in a while.

She's beautiful. Her eyes are pretty as hell. Grey… no, silver irises. She isn't wearing most of her piercings; her earrings are all out, but her nose, lip and belly rings were still in and to the best of my knowledge she still has her tongue stud in her mouth… and her more private piercings. Her hair, at the moment is matted down (bed head) and she isn't wearing any makeup. She's prettier without makeup. I like her without all that black shit on her face (well… I do like the lipstick). Sometimes I wonder how I would categorize her. She likes skulls and shit but I don't think she's a goth… hell, I've seen her beat up a few goths. Actually she beats up a lot of people. Where was I? Oh, right… I don't think she's goth. I'm not sure if she's metal, I haven't heard her listening to a lot of metal. She may be a punk. She likes punk rock. She isn't emo though. She says emo is for pussies. She can rap… she can rap really well. Hmm… maybe she can't be categorized. I don't think she'd want to be categorized anyway.

I cough and my eyes close. When they open she's smiling. "You lose." I pout a bit.

It's so early. I tell her that no one in the garage would be awake if we went back now. Corn would be in his apartment. Combo and Garam would be in theirs. I don't know if Clutch or Beat would be in the garage. Beat tended to wonder off at night and Clutch actually lived with the doctor who operated on Corn but he usually backpacked and went off on his own. I actually should be at home right now but lately I've grown more and more detached from my family so I just hang out with Cube at night like I am now (I insensitively forgot that the Golden Rhinos burned her house down). My step-father, when I actually am home, tells me that she's a bad influence on me. I don't listen to him because he's only met her once and he barely spoke to her. Anyway he says the same stuff about Corn. My real father found a reason to like Corn and I bet he would've found a reason to like Cube… if he was still alive. I tell her about some of the stuff my step-dad says about her. She laughs. She thinks he's a fucking douche bag and she says that if she ever sees him again she'll say it to his face.

Just another reason I like hanging out with her.

I tell her about my dad, my real dad. I tell her about how he died. She said that he sounded like the kind of guy she would've wanted as a father. I ask about her parents. She's a bit uncomfortable now. "Never mind. You don't have to tell me about them if you don't want to." She tells me about them and I actually cry. What kind of people do that to their own child? She tells me that they're dead. I don't say it out loud but I'm glad they're dead.

She looks as though a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. She gets up and approaches me. She extend a hand to me and I take it in mine. She pulls me to my feet. "C'mon… let's get some breakfast."

I check my watch. "It's 5:20. Is any place open this early?"

She smiles at me as she picks my jacket up off of the floor and hands it to me. "I guess we're about to find out." I smile. I watch as she pulls her hoody on.

I turn off the music and she turns off the Christmas lights. When we're in the hallway I lock the door. I intertwine my arm with hers and she smiles again. We proceed down the stairs into the darkness. We finally make it to the first floor and just before we leave the building she… she kisses me on the cheek. That's a hell of a thing, isn't it? I was so surprised. I didn't know she felt that way about me... does she feel that way about me? Sometimes she likes messing with me.

_Aw, what the hell?_

I kiss her back. She looks surprised. I guess I'm blushing, my cheeks feel warm. I separate from her and push, what was once, an automatic-door open. I wait for her to pass through then I push it shut again (wouldn't want anyone to find our hideout right?). She starts skating down the street and slows down when she gets about thirty feet away from me. She turns around to face me and tells me to hurry up. I speed up and zoom past her. She stays there for a few second then speeds after me. She gave me a head start.

We race but there's no need to hurry… we don't know if there's any place open for us to get any food at.

Fuck it… at least we kissed.

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**_How'd you like that. I can't stress enough that this is a stand alone series. I haven't decided on whether it should be a one-shot yet. Anyway, let me know what you think._**

**_Oh, also make sure to subscribe to the JSRF feed so you will automatically recieve updates from your "favorites" menu on your toolbar... okay, laters._**


	2. Heart

_**I don't own JSRF…I **__**DO**__** own this fic so don't plagiarize…You know, I read over the last part and I really liked what I wrote so here's part two.**_

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**Heart**

_**Cube/Gum**_

**Volly: **_**Please… for the love of God… I'm begging you… (tears in his eyes) please, update your story. Don't make me get on my knees and beg.**_

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**99****th**** Street, 11:30am **

I've always hated girls that are the way I thought she was. Girls who always check and double check and triple check and so on to make sure they always look good all the time. Girls who get angry and throw temper tantrums at the drop of a hat. Girls who disrespect others behind their backs. Girls who do drugs because they think it's cool or because they think they have serious problems when in reality they don't. Girls who constantly put out. Girls who always need to be **a** center of attention if not **the** center of attention. Girls who just go along with a group instead of just doing their own thing. Girls who feign empathy so they appear less narcissistic than they really are even though they really don't care about anyone but themselves.

I hadn't really spoken to her the first time I met her but I had that impression about her. I guess it was unfair of me to judge her so harshly. I guess it's because I saw the way she would look at me sometimes and I thought that she may have had that type of impression about me. She didn't talk to me either with the exception of a few instances. Then one day everyone else had left the garage for whatever reason they had to leave and she approached me. We started to chat a little. Eventually the conversation became about me getting along with the others. I said I didn't really know anyone else there beyond Soda and Clutch. I was sort of acquainted with Yoyo and Jazz because of our "conspiracy" but that was all. I had only met Yoyo a few times before joining and I had only known Jazz for about a week before joining. She asked why I hadn't gotten to know anyone else while I had the chance. I said I just hadn't gotten around to it. The truth is I found Beat repellant, thought Corn was weird, thought Garam was too goofy and found Boogie too… well, actually I felt like she either didn't like me or didn't trust me. I didn't think it was a good idea to tell her what I thought about her. I told her that I wasn't sure where I fit in or whether I should even be with them.

At the time I guess she felt sorry for me so she started hanging out with me. It pissed me off. I didn't want any fucking sympathy for not having friends in the group. Occasionally Soda and Clutch started asking me about it. I made a few jokes about her and, yeah, we laughed at her behind her back. I know it's a pretty shitty thing to do and yes it does make me a bit of a hypocrite. I don't know why but I just didn't want them to think we were friends. What was really messed up was that I thought she thought that we actually were friends, but I thought that I was just faking.

We talked all the time: about ourselves, about each other, about the other GG's. It was kind of fun to find out what she really thought of everyone else. She had a pro and a con for everyone. She said that Corn was a great guy: he was a genius in his own right, he was brave and he had always been there for her in all the time she'd known him. Her only problem with him was that he would do too much on his own if he saw a situation get out of hand. Beat? Well, she said he was cute and he was smart but she had the feeling that if anything went wrong with Corn he might try to incite the GG's against him and take over… and he tends to say and do things that were wildly inappropriate. Oh, and he's constantly flirting with her (which bugs her even though she does flirt back… she claims that she only does it because it's funny to mess with him, which it is). She thinks Yoyo's cute and that he's actually a pretty sweet guy, but he's also a liar (though she does find him to be somewhat trust worthy) and a horrible pervert. She thinks Combo's cute (there seems to be a theme here) but he doesn't really talk to anybody so she hasn't gotten the chance to really get to know him (because she would actually like to go out with him… she says she has a thing for black guys; she doesn't know why). She likes Rhyth a lot. She says she's really nice and she's actually a lot smarter than everyone thinks she is but she has confidence issues; she's too timid at times.

I guess it would take too long to go over everyone else.

Then one day she asked me what I thought about her. What could I do? I told her truth (because for whatever reason I thought it would be wrong to lie to her). I told her what I originally thought about her. She seemed mad at first but then she told me what she thought about me. She told me that she had thought that I was trying to replace her in the gang… among other things (she had a pretty long list on me). We were hanging out together for weeks and we were faking through it the whole time. Isn't that fucking crazy? How strange is it that this is the way we actually became friends.

Anyway, once we cleared the air we were able to actually get to know each other. I guess the first thing I learned about her was that she doesn't say anything bad about someone if she can't say anything good about them. She only checks herself once before she goes anywhere and after that she just goes with the flow. She does have anger management issues but she doesn't throw temper tantrums… though she is likely to hurt someone if given just cause. She smokes weed because otherwise she'd have no appetite (and that's a good enough reason in my book). She does appear slutty sometimes but she's actually only had sex with three guys (that's pretty good considering she's had fourteen boyfriends). Oh, and she actually does have serious problems.

I take a look around the room. The window is open and sunlight is flooding the room (unfortunately it's raining outside so the sunlight is kind of gray). I don't recall rolling up the Jolly Rodger so I can only assume that I dozed off and she rolled it up before she went into the shower. The Christmas lights are off (in here) and I can see all of the posters and flags on the walls very clearly. There's a lot of sports posters and centerfolds on the walls. We only have a few flags: the aforementioned Jolly Rodger, a Kamikaze flag, a Jimi Hendrix flag, a black flag with a red star and an Oakland Raiders flag.

I take a good look around. It seems like she's been moving our stuff around. Why would she do that? I hear a vibrating sound that isn't coming from my chair. It's Gum's cell phone. I look around until I finally find it. I flip it open and read the caller I.D. _Taro_. Her step-dad called her. I receive the call and immediately hang-up, even when no one else is around I show my contempt for him. She gets another call. _Cornball._ I giggle when I read that. I leave it alone long enough for him to be sent through to her voice mail. Now, I start flipping through her phonebook. I don't find what I'm looking for. I decide to enter my phone number and when it tells me to place a name next to it I type C-U-B-I-E and place a little heart icon next to it. That gets me thinking… I can't believe I actually kissed her. Why would I just put myself out there like that? It was a stupid thing to do.

She's in the bathroom right now, taking a shower (the water heaters are shut off so there's only cold water). We had to tape more of our Christmas lights up on the bathroom ceiling to we can see when we go in there, but the outlet doesn't work in the bathroom so we had to have the lights connected to one of the working outlets. Since they have to go out of the bathroom to get to the outlet they prevent the door from closing all the way. I don't have any music on right now so I can hear her humming. The water turns off and she's still humming. I place her phone back where it was, right next to her helmet. Gum comes out of the bathroom with a yellow towel wrapped around her body. Her blonde hair is wet and hanging down in front of her eyes. As she pulls one of her sodden bangs behind her ear, I try to think about how yellow is a good color for her and not about how the towel is wrapped so tightly that her breast are pushing up out of it or how they bounce and her hips sway with every step she takes toward me. I can't think about yellow.

She crouches down in front of me (close enough for me to smell the strawberry body-wash and banana shampoo she uses) and asks me what I'm doing with her phone. I tell her that Corn and her step-father called for her. She sighs, gets up and goes over to the incense burner. As she lights the incense (I don't know the aroma but they're extremely overpowering) she says something about not even being gone long enough for them to be making a federal case out of it. I remind her that we've slept here for three days straight with only two trips back to the garage. It's only natural for them to want to know where she is. She asks if anyone has called me to which I reply no. When she asks why I say it's because no one cares enough about me to call and find out where I've been for seventy-two hours, I tell her that I keep a low profile.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't do anything that would draw attention to myself so if I'm missing for a few days nobody would notice. On the other hand, if you disappear for even half a day they get the bloodhounds on your scent." She tells me that if I was missing for half a day she'd go looking for me. I feel my heart warm up and tell her that it's sweet of her to say that.

The clothes we lifted are all in travel bags sitting up against the wall. She goes over to the bags, unzips one and starts to root through it. She pulls out a few articles of clothing then… she takes off her towel… oh shit. I turn away because I'm starting to blush, but I want so badly to look at her. _Maybe I can sneak a peak…_ I turn a little and look over my shoulder. _Oh…_ Her ass is so tight and round… and her breasts are absolutely perfect in every way: their size, their shape… and I can tell from looking that her cold shower had an affect on her. Everything else is… her legs, her hips, her back, her shoulders… oh my god… _She's a goddess!_

"Cube?" She turns to me holding up some clothes.

I snap out of it. _Huh?_ "Huh?" _Oh shit._ Did she catch me looking? _How do I play this off?_ I point at her crotch. "Carpet doesn't match the drapes." _…Smooth._

"What?" She looks down. Her pubic hairs are brown. She snorts and purses her lips. "It does so match the drapes." She approaches me (boobs bouncing and hips swaying all the way over), ducks her head and starts sifting through her hair. "See?" Her roots are brown; they do indeed match the carpet. She raises her head and smiles at me as I nearly choke on my laughter.

_I hope she didn't notice. She probably wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore if she did._

She grabs my hand and pulls me over to the clothes. "Help me pick out my clothes."

She holds up a yellow, sleeveless shirt with the words "lovely girl" written in black hiragana running down the left side and a white tank top in her left hand and a black skirt and a white skirt with green and yellow plaid designs in her right. "What should I wear?"

I can't get the fact that she's still completely nude off of my mind. "Maybe you should start with underwear…"

She lets out an exasperated sigh and forces all of the items into my hands. She goes into one of the other bags and pulls out a pair of white panties (which I consider lying by omission) and slides them on. She immediately takes the clothes back and holds them up. "Now help me…"

"No bra?"

"No damn it… choose!"

"Don't snap at me!"

"Quite stallin'! I don't wanna stand here topless all day!"

I could watch her topless all day and night. I know that won't happen so I sigh. "Okay, okay… go with the yellow shirt and black skirt." _Take your time putting them on…please._

She's dresses quickly. I change my clothes too. I change from my tube-top and black pants to a black t-shirt and long, black shorts with draw-strings at the hems; I'm still wearing my usual belt buckle but this time with a spike-studded belt.

Her shirt hugs her waist and her breasts. Her skirt is six-inches above her knees; her black socks are about six inches below her knees. I watch as she pulls on a black beanie with a "Michigan" logo. It's small so she pulls it all the way down until it form-fits her head and covers her eyebrows, which doesn't bother me because it draws my attention too her soft, brown eyes. Her hair sticks out from under the beanie.

She's so beautiful right now I can't stand it anymore.

The whole reason we even found this place, the reason we're here right now, was that we wanted a place where we could be together and be ourselves. Our real selves. Be us, the us that we don't show our friends because we don't believe they'll like who we really are. We've opened up to each other completely just by coming here together every day… almost completely. I've been careful to omit one detail about myself. I've been afraid that if I let her know the truth she won't want to be around me anymore… but I want her to know because…

_God she's beautiful_. I want her so bad it hurts my heart.

She grabs me by my hand and leads me to the door. We get about halfway to the door when I stop. She turns to me and looks directly into my eyes. She's still holding my hand. My heart rate hits mach 7.

"Cube, are you okay?"

I want to say yes but I cant… I can't speak. My throat's dry.

"Cube? What's wrong?" She looks worried. My heart melts when I see that she's worried about me.

Without thinking I squeeze her hand. My heart's beating so fast and so hard that it's hurting my chest. I swallow and my throat gets stuck. I try to generate saliva.

She approaches me now. "Cubie?" My eyes are fixated on her lips… her full, luscious lips. Her lip gloss is yellowish-orange. She told me before that it's mango flavored.

I've been afraid that if I let her know the truth she won't want to be around me anymore… but I want her to know because… because I'm tired of keeping it a secret from her… because I want to let her know… I want to let her know how I feel about her.

I pull her in close to me and release her hand. I almost hesitate to wrap my right arm around her back. My left hand unconsciously raises and caresses her cheek. My breaths become quicker and my heart rate stays constant at high speed, then suddenly…it all slows down: my breathing, my heart, time… it all slows down and I…

I kiss her.

Her eyes slowly close and mine follow suit. Her arms wrap around me and she begins to caress my lower back. We back-up until I have her pinned against the door. I still smell bananas. I still smell strawberries. I can taste mango. I wrap my left hand around her waist and squeeze her as tight as I can without hurting her. Our breasts press against each other. Our hips meet. I can tell she's getting into it.

But then she stops.

She lets go of me and uses her hands to pry my hands off of her. She pushes me away.

_Oh no… please no… not yet… please…_

She's panting. She's still up against the door. Her eyes are fixed on me, but soon she turns her head. She won't look at me.

_No… please no… don't do that…_

She turns around and opens the door. As soon as she's facing away from me she wipes her lips.

_No…not like this…_

I approach her and place a hand on her shoulder. She cringes. She brushes it off.

_No… please Gum…_

She opens the door and walks out into the hallway. She leaves the door standing open and waits for me in the hallway.

She makes an attempt to look at me so I try to explain myself. "Gum… Yasu, I…" She turns away from me. When she looks at me I see that she is confused and doesn't know how to feel. I don't see the look of hatred and disgust I half-expected to see on her face; that's a relief I suppose.

I leave the room and lock-up behind me. I look at her again. I take a deep breath and timidly step toward her. She doesn't move. I approach her now and when I get too close she steps away. When she steps away I stop. I'm starting to choke-up so I bite my lip. I start toward the stairs and she follows after I take a few steps. I don't want to cry in front of her. I just don't want to cry in front of her.

I've always been afraid of this. I've always been afraid of really being who I really am for this very reason. I've always been afraid of being rejected. It hurts, I won't lie.

What really hurts is that now she probably thinks I was never really her friend. She probably thinks I just wanted to get close to her and take advantage of the situation. It's not just that it hurts. It's that she's the only person I've actually shared my feelings with and everything that I was afraid would happen has happened so far. It's the fact that now that I've come clean with her I'm a pariah. She's my best friend and I love her but it doesn't matter because she thinks I'm a liar now.

It's a good thing the rest of these hallways are dark…I don't want her to see my mascara running.

We make it down to the first floor and go out of the door. We have to make a right but she turns left. I grab her hand and she stops. She isn't looking at me, she's staring down the street.

I had wiped my face before we got out into the sulight but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm crying again. I can't fight my tears anymore. The whole way down I had been thinking that I could explain myself to her and maybe salvage enough of our relationship to still be friends... but now what's the point?

My grip on her hand loosens and she slips away. She proceeds down the street leaving me standing alone.

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**_Keep an eye out for part three. Review this chapter though. I'm gonna keep the story going as long as I can._**


	3. Anger and Regret

_**I don't own JSRF…I **__**DO**__** own this fic so don't plagiarize…okay this is gonna start to get tricky.**_

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**Anger and Regret**

_**(Gum/Cube)**_

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**Archai:**_** Yaaaaaay… Archai loves me, Archai loves me… yaaaaaaaay! (Now you go, lady!) Yaaaay!**_

**Shickystizzle: **_**I ain't gettin' big headed. Also I already know you're a sap (warm and fuzzy). The one messed up thing about that last chapter was the fact that I actually want Gum and Cube to be together before the end of the fic. It ain't easy though because I already made Gum reject Cube so now I have to do something to bring them back together… H-A-R-D.**_

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**99****th**** Street Subway Station, 12:51pm**

That first time she kissed me I thought she was just playing around with me. That's why I kissed her back. I thought we were just messing around, but now…

My train pulls up. I get in and go all the way to the last car and sit. It's nearly empty so I'll get to think about this. I'm going back to the garage for a bit so I can think. I really need to give this some thought. I need to make sense of all of this…

I play it all back in my head. I think all the way back to the actual kiss.

I… I loved that kiss. I could feel it in her. All of her love, her longing for me… it was all in that one passionate kiss. The way she held me, the way she caressed me, the way pressed herself against me. I had always wanted someone to kiss me that way. But then… her tongue slipped into my mouth and that's when I ripped her hands off and pushed her off of me. I did it so suddenly that it never even registered in my head. I hadn't even realized what I had done until I saw the look on her face. She looked… she looked hurt. She looked like I had ripped her heart out and tore it in half.

That look hasn't left my mind. _Fuck…_ _she was crying._ I heard her sobbing when we were leaving. I can't believe I actually made her cry. I can't believe I hurt her like that. My face falls into my hands and I feel the tears building up. I can't believe I did that to her. She's my best friend and I… I just threw her off of me. I didn't consider her feelings. I didn't want to hear what she had to say to me… shit I didn't even look at her. She must think I'm a horrible person. She must think I hate her.

That's when it hit's me. It dawns on me that she must hate me for this. She opened her heart to me and I closed mine. If I apologized would she accept it? Could we still be friends? Should I feel like shit right now? I feel like shit right now. I really do.

I can't hold back my own tears… I don't want her to hate me... but now… now I think she does… I know she does… and it's all my fault.

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**The Garage, 2:20pm**

The garage is nearly empty. Everyone's off doing their own thing I suppose… unless this is some elaborate trap and their all gonna spring out of nowhere and interrogate me. I get a look around. No trap, it's empty. I'm glad Corn isn't here (he's probably pissed at me right now). Beat isn't here which is good because I don't feel like being bothered. Yoyo isn't here either, also good… I don't feel up to lying to him about what happened between Cube and myself (I never feel right about lying to him about anything because I can tell he hangs on my every word) because I know it's not normal for us to be separate anymore. I go strait to the "second floor" and lay down on the couch. I just relax for a bit. My eyes start to close… I **am** pretty tired, I've been up or about sixteen hours so it's _(yawn)_ to be… expected… I…guess…

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I wake up to the sound of conversation. I open my eyes to see that I had rolled over onto my side and am now facing the back of the couch. I look at my watch… I've been asleep for two hours. I take a few seconds to recognize the voices. It's, who else, Clutch and Soda. They're talking about me and Cube and making lewd comments and jokes. I've never liked those two. Clutch started off on the wrong foot with **everybody** but Soda has always been a dick to me specifically. Cube told me about how they would both talk shit about me behind my back when she was still hanging out with them more than she was with me. There's another reason that I don't like them… what was it again… oh, right… she told me that she'd overheard them talking about running a train on her. She said that they were going to try to get her to go to a party with them so they could try to get her drunk and fuck her. They never actually found out that she had heard them but, needless to say, she doesn't hang out with them anymore. _I wonder what she's doing right now…_ I can still hear them talking but I'm not paying attention…

"Hey Gum, wake up!" A hand slaps my ass and I jump.

"Where's Cube?" It was Clutch… or at least he was closest to me, I don't doubt that Soda can reach from where he's standing.

"Did you just slap my ass?" I can feel some belligerence building up inside of me. I don't like being touched that way… but I suppose I don't mind it when Cube does it to me, she's just playing after all.

"Where's Cube? Is she nearby?" Soda speaks up. His voice is always deadpan for whatever reason.

I don't want to tell them about the hotel. "No."

"Where's she at?" Clutch asks me.

Once again I think about them wanting to run a train on her. What kind of friends are they to even think about that. What did she ever see in these two? "I don't know." I shrug.

They looked at each other then turned back to me. "Oh come on… we know you know. You two are always together. Just tell us where she is."

I sit up and eye them both. "Where she is isn't any of your business. If she wanted you to know she would have told you. Now leave me alone."

Soda snorts as he laughs. He nudges Clutch. "I think I know what happened… Cube fagged out on her."

Clutch smiles. He starts to laugh when he turns back to me and sees the shocked expression on my face. _They knew?_ "Hey sorry we didn't tell you Gum… just figured you're a queer too." They both chuckle. I can feel the anger rising. _How can they talk like that?_ "Hey Soda, if Cube's into a slut like Gum then I'm almost glad we didn't fuck her."

Soda laughs at that. _What the fuck is wrong with these guys?!_ "Hey Gum… what'd she do? Did she feel you up? Did she try to fuck you? Or maybe…" he turns to Clutch I can't see his mouth but I can tell he's grinning. He turns back to me. "Hey Gum… did you let her fuck you?" He looks at Clutch. "Do you think she let her…?"

"One way to find out… hey Gum? D'you let Cube eat you out?"

My eyes close. I bow my head… I'm shaking. _Shut up… leave me alone… shut up… shut up about her. Don't talk about her like that!_

Soda pokes my forehead. He speaks and I feel him getting closer to me. "He asked you a question. D'you let Cube eat your pussy? D'you give her herpes? Is that why you're alone right now? She get a disease from you? Everyone knows what a slut you are so it wouldn't surpri…"

My eyes open and I backhand him across his face. "Shut the fuck up!"

Soda stares blankly at me for a moment. He then grabs me by my hair and pulls me to my feet. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You know, just because you and Cube…"

He starts talking but I can't hear him. It's all white noise. I know exactly what's about to happen. I'm about to snap. He's got about eight seconds before my mind goes blank and I pull his lungs out… my father, rest in peace, always did say that my temper runs on his side of the family.

I feel a slap across my face. My vision blurs. Time's up.

Everything goes white. I'm blind… sort of. I can actually see but my mind is blank so I can only register what I feel and not what I can see. Soon enough I can feel my fist pound into something. I feel myself being grabbed and I feel my elbow slam into something. I can feel something slam into my stomach and knock me to the ground. I feel my fists pound at whatever just tackled me over and over and over. I feel a fist against my jaw and soon I taste blood. I feel hands wrap around my neck and I feel my head slam into the ground. I feel my hand slide something out of my belt buckle and force it into what's choking me. I twist it around and the hands loosen. They grab at the hand I used to stab but they can't pull my weapon out. I feel myself roll whatever was choking me so that I'm on top of it. I pull the weapon out and plunge it again. I feel myself being pulled off of it and I feel myself get loose and force what was grabbing me onto the ground. My fists are suddenly pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding. This goes on seemingly forever. Then suddenly I'm ripped off of the ground and suspended in the air. Something is holding my feet and I can't get them loose. One of them finally gets free and my heel slams into something…hard. My other foot is loosened now. And I'm kicking… stomping something on the ground. My arms won't come free.

_**Splash!**_

I feel liquid on my face and I feel something hit me. My vision starts to clear. My periphery clears first and I can see a pair of black arms hooked under mine. It's Combo. I'm still kicking.

"Get her legs! Get her legs!" I think that's Corn.

I feel my knees being squeezed together and when my vision clears… it's… it's Cube. She's saying something to me. "...the…happened?" I can't understand her. "Gum! What the fuck happened?!"

I'm staring at her. I swallow and I want to say everything that I wanted to say to her about what happened between us earlier. I want to tell her how sorry I was. "Cube… I…"

"She kicked me! She fuckin' kicked me in the face!"

Cube and I both turn to find the source of those words. It was Clutch. He's on the ground holding his face and lying on his back. He's lifting and dropping his foot. There's blood on his hands.

"Well boo-fuckin'-hoo, she fuckin' kicked you… she fuckin' **stabbed** me!" I keep a concealed knife in my belt buckle. Apparently I used it to stab Soda in the ribs when he was choking me. He's covered in blood. He strips off his jacket and there's two big, bloody gashes.

I'm staring at the gash. Cube's staring at me. She still looks a bit hurt, but she also looks curious. She definitely wants to know why I did this to them. Our eyes lock. After a few moments pass Corn yells for her and Combo to get me out of the garage. He tells them to get me cooled down.

Cube's gaze is still fixed on me and then… she cracks a smirk. Cube shakes her head and turns to look at both Soda and Clutch as she and Combo carry me out of the garage. "I don't know what you two did but I know you both deserved it."

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_**I guess this could have been longer but I wanted to get back to Cube's P.O.V. as quickly as possible. Please review.**_

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	4. Reminiscence

_**I don't own JSRF…I **__**DO**__** own this fic so don't plagiarize… I can't stress that enough.**_

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**Reminiscence**

_**(Cube/Gum)**_

_**I'm glad that at least twelve people have been reading this fic (chapter one has 37 hits and chapter two has 12). I understand that not everyone likes yuri (personally I don't like yaoi) so I've been trying to keep it soft for the first few chapters so that you can enjoy the storyline. **_

_**Just to help with some possible confusion, it will always say Gum/Cube or Cube/Gum directly under the chapter title. The character whose name comes first is the one narrating the chapter. **_

_**Also I'm sorry the last chapter was so short, it's just that I wanted to get back to Cube's P.O.V. as soon as possible. I'm hoping that I'll be able to end this chapter on a somewhat upbeat note.**_

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**Gentle Arms Love Hotel Rm. 507, 1:31pm**

_What did I do? What the fuck did I do?_ I can't believe what I did. I can't believe I lost control of myself like that. Why didn't I just **tell** her how I felt? Why did I have to fucking **kiss** her? What the hell's wrong with me?!

I've been sitting here since she left. It's been about an hour since she left, maybe longer. After she left… I just didn't feel like going anywhere so I came back to the room. My face is in my hands. I've been crying since before she left but I stopped a little while ago. I take some deep breaths, my face is still wet, and I finally lift my head up and look around the room. She left her helmet on the floor… well that doesn't really matter. I'm more concerned about her telling everyone what happened than I am about her leaving her helmet.

This is fucked up. This is all fucked up. I can't help but hold out hope that this is all just a nightmare and that I'll wake up soon.

I came here because I didn't want to go out but now I don't want to be here either. I reach down and strap on my skates. I'm going to go take a walk. Maybe I'll feel better if I get some air.

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**99****th**** Street, 2:15pm**

I've been skating for a while now. Just skating, I don't feel like tagging. Not alone anyway. I pass a shop and see my reflection in the window. For the first time I notice the mascara streaks are still on my face. I wipe them but they are still on my face. _Fuck._ _I hope nobody noticed._ Of course nobody noticed. Everyone in this city minds their own business… or they want you to think that. I'd guess that about half of the people I'm passing have made a mental note of my face. I can feel eyes on me. Well hidden, discreet eyes. Suddenly I'm a bit self-conscious. I want to be alone again… this is the first time I've ever wanted to be alone. I've gone out of my way to avoid being alone and now I long for it… I decide to go to Dragon Plaza. I'm only about twenty minutes away from there anyway.

When I finally get there I find an empty bench and sit down. It's bright out. It's hot too. The water that's usually at the base of the dragon is evaporating. I look up and shield my eyes from the sun. I don't want to think about what happened earlier. I stretch my arms out along the bench and let my head fall backwards. My eyes close.

For whatever reason my mind starts to wander. I start to think about the day she and I took all of that hockey equipment. We got chased out of a sporting goods store when we were taking it. They called the police but somehow we made it back to the hotel. As soon as we got back we went to the roof. It took us forever (which was pathetic because the directions were so simple) but we finally set up the net. She was at one end of the roof guarding the net and I was at the other end with the puck…

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"_Are you sure you're ready? I can wait until you're ready."_

"_Don't do me any favors, bitch!"_

"_Gum, I'm just saying I can wait because I'm really, really fast. I just want to make sure you can keep up with me."_

"_Oh, I can keep up… guaranteed."_

"_Okay… just don't say I didn't warn you."_

I launched the puck forward and charged. I rushed at her full speed. She was standing in front of the net, her legs were spread and her stick was positioned between her skates. I felt my speed building up. I was moving faster and fast, moving the puck from side to side as I went.

_Left, right, left, right…_

I could see her knees bend slightly. _Easy goal._ I hit my fifth gear. I kept track of my distance from her. _Thirty yards… twenty-five… twenty…_ I wanted to make it seem like a game of chicken. I wanted to get as close as possible before I shot. I was going to shoot at the five yard mark. Her head wasn't moving. I thought that she was just moving her eyes to follow the puck. I was so confident that I never realized what she was actually looking at until it was too late. _Fifteen… ten… nine… _I didn't get a chance to shoot... I didn't even make it to the five. When I got within eight yards of her she torpedoed out of the net and she… she…

"_Rahr!"_

_**Wham!**_

"_Ah!'_

_**Crash!**_

"_Ow… a-ha-ha-how!"_

She wasn't watching the puck at all, she was watching me. She speared me. She fucking jet boosted at me from a standing position and shoulder tackled me right in the gut. She put me on my ass… on my back. It hurt… a lot. What was worse was that as soon as she got up she stood over me and flexed before she helped me up. She smiled at me.

"_Score's zero to zero… my turn."_

That definitely hurt my pride. Up until then I didn't know how close we would actually become and I figured that if anything did happen between us that we would probably fight and I'd kick her ass… from that point on the seed of doubt was planted. I didn't think I could kick her ass anymore, not for a second.

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I think back on it now and I smile… I almost laugh. That happened over a month ago, why am I still thinking about it. I guess it was just funny. One of those funny little moments in life that you share with another person but not with anyone else because it'll cheapen the experience. It was small. It was short. But even so, that moment meant a lot to me.

A part of me wonders if that meant anything to her.

That thought depresses me… for the first time I realize that I'm hungry. I look around and see a man selling kabobs out of a cart. I decide to support his business and buy a few. Stealing just isn't as fun without Gum. After I buy a few chicken kabobs I take them back to my bench. I eat them with gusto. _No wonder that guy wasn't selling any. _They taste like crap, but I don't care. I haven't eaten since we found that Ihop early this morning (I guess when they say "**International** House of Pancakes" they aren't bullshitting).

My phone goes off. I'm not exactly a religious person but I do silently pray that it's Gum.

My prayer isn't answered. _Clutch…_ I don't want to talk to him so I receive the call and hang up. A few minutes later I get another call. _Soda._ I just let it ring until it stops. I don't want to talk to either of them. I haven't wanted to talk to them in weeks… actually I don't think I've ever wanted to talk to them. I think about it for a moment… it's true. They were always the ones to talk to me and never the opposite. Clutch is a fucking bug. He just bugs me and bugs me and it really pisses me off. Soda… Soda was the one that I thought was probably okay but after listening to him talk and talk and seeing the type of shit he gets into and gets **me** into I quickly realized he's an asshole. I always knew they were both jerks and I always knew they were backstabbers. I'm serious… they talk loads of shit about me behind my back. They used to get me to talk about myself, tell them things about myself… but I found out they were telling everyone what I'd tell them about me. What's worse, what really puts a bug up my ass… they act like they own me. They act like they can have me do whatever the fuck they want me to do… like they have me on loan to the GG's or some shit. I came here of my own volition and I'm gonna have to remind them of that real soon.

I guess that's why I actually started to like being round Gum. She respects me… she respects my privacy and never opens her mouth to anyone about what I say to her or what I do with her. She understands that it's all between me and her and nobody else needs to know about what we say or do because it's nobody else's business. She's never even told anyone about our love hotel room.

That's when I realize that I don't need to worry about her telling anyone about what happened.

Why should I? I've told her worse things than I'm a lesbian. I've told her that I'm afraid of heights. I've told her that I'm afraid of the dark (I get night terrors, don't laugh). I've told her about all the cruel, horrible, perverse things my parents did to me before they died (car crash or Karma?). I've told her that I think Combo's kinda cute (that's when I found out she has a thing for big black guys). She's never told anyone about that stuff. I've never told anyone about the things I know about her. She's been a true friend to me…

That's something I've never had before.

I decide to call her on her phone but I don't get an answer so I leave a message.

"… Um… hey Gum, it's me… I just wanted to tell you that I don't blame you for reacting to me the way you did. I guess it was stupid for me to just… y'know, kiss you like that. I just kind of lost control of myself. I wanted to tell you but… I… I was afraid. I was afraid that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. That you'd be disgusted with me. That you'd probably… hate me. Look… if you don't feel that way about me… that's fine, it breaks my heart, but I'm not going to hold a grudge against you or try to force you to love me. I just don't want to lose you as a friend. I **need** you as a friend because I've never had a friend… a real friend… like you. I need you as a friend because… because I don't want to be alone, again. Please call me back. I really need to talk to you… and I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

I hang up and check the time. It's 3:30. I decide to go back to the garage and hope that she'll be there when I get there. I don't want to take the shortcut so I head to the train station.

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**Shibuya, 4:07pm**

It took me a while to get to Shibuya. The train station isn't too far from the bus terminal though. I decide to take a bus because I don't feel like skating all the way to the garage. I sit at the bus stop and after a few minutes someone places a hand on my shoulder. I look at it… it's black. I turn around to find Combo looking back at me. I give him a slight wave and he asks me what's wrong. I ask him how he even knows something's wrong with me. He tells me that my mascara's running. _Fuck! Still?!_ I wipe but he tells me that it looks dried on. He hands me a water bottle and I pour a little into my hand and wipe it away.

He asks me what's wrong again. I try to answer him without giving too much away. I tell him that I'm upset because I did something to Gum that I regret. He asks what I did and I say that I did something to her that I should have never done because she wasn't ready for it. He just nods. I think he gets that I don't really want to talk about it.

"Oh… you came out to her, didn't you?" My eyes go wide and I stare at him. Hey looks back at me rather nonchalantly. "I kinda thought you already told her… guess I was wrong though."

"H… how did you…?"

"I got really good gay-dar."

I'm still shocked. I don't think I've ever even said two words to this guy. How did he, of all people, figure it out? "Does everyone…?"

"I think a couple others might have an **idea** but I don't think they really, y'know, **know**."

"Oh… hey…"

"Yeah, I know. I ain't gonna say shit to anybody. Don't trip."

I breath a sigh. "Thanks."

"Yeah… too bad for me though. I thought you were kinda cute… guess you're off limits though, huh?"

I look back up to him and I'm about to tell him that I actually think he's kinda cute but the bus pulls up before I can say anything.

He gets up and approaches the bus. He stops and turns back to me. "You comin'?"

I nod and get on the bus with him.

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**Just outside of the garage, 4:27pm**

I explain everything to him on the way to the garage. I find out that he's a pretty good listener. He tells me something when I finish my explanation. He tells me that if I feel this bad about all of this that she might feel just as bad. He says that she doesn't seem to be the type of person that would just turn her back on me. I should just sit down and talk to her about it and ultimately our relationship might become stronger because of it. He also tells me that I should consider coming out sometime in the near future but that it's really up to me whether or not I actually do.

I'm about to thank him for his advice but we both stop when we hear something… a scream. A blood curdling, painful scream. "… She stabbed me… get her off me!" We rush into the garage to find Soda on the ground and holding his side… there's blood. I have trouble locating the cause of his wounds but I soon find it. Gum is sitting on Clutch's chest… she's punching him in the face… over and over and over again. He's still struggling but she's really going to town on him.

"What the fuck!" I turn to see Corn, Yoyo, Beat, Jazz and Garam rushing up the stairs. "Somebody grab her… pull her off of him!" Combo rushes to her and pulls her off of him. He hooks his arms under hers and locks them behind her neck. She's kicking Clutch now. Clutch rolls out from under her and grabs her feet. I look over to see Garam and Beat stripping off Soda's jacket.

_**Bam!**_

"Aaah!"

I turn back to Gum and see Clutch is back on the ground holding his face. "She kicked me! She kicked me in the face!" His usual deep, relaxed voice is now a shrill, hysterical scream. He keeps saying it over and over again. Corn is holding him down.

Jazz and Yoyo stand in shock.

Gum is usually so calm, so cheerful… so beautiful. Now I look at her and see rage personified. She's terrifying! I realize that I'm holding Combo's water bottle. I splash her and I slap her across her face. The terrible expression on her face is gone. Her face is blank. She's looking around and blinking.

"Get her feet! Get her feet!" Corn calls to me.

I do as I'm told but I don't grab her feet. I hook my arm around her knees and I squeeze them together. I look into her eyes and I can tell she's coming back to her senses. "Are you alright? What the fuck happened to you?" She stares blankly at me. "Gum! What the fuck happened?!"

She's quiet for a moment, just looking at me, but soon she prepares to speak to me. She lets her mouth hang open for a few seconds before her voice comes out. "Cube… I…"

"She kicked me! She fuckin' kicked me in the face!" We both turn to look at Clutch. He's still on the ground. Still holding his face. He's still bleeding.

"Well boo-fuckin'-hoo, she fuckin' kicked you… she fuckin' **stabbed** me!" We look over at Soda. I can tell he's in serious pain (for some reason my heart leaps with joy when I see that) and that he's quite irate. He always treats her like shit. I'll bet he never expected her to fucking stab his ass.

I turn back to Gum. She's still looking at Soda but after a moment she turns back to me. I'm about to ask her what happened, again.

"Combo, Cube!" Corn yells at us. "Get her out of here! Don't let her come back until she's cooled the fuck down… I'll deal with her when she gets back!"

I think he might be thinking about kicking her out for this. He's probably already pissed at her for always just disappearing with me but she's never done this before. I look at her and I'm worried. She's sad but she doesn't look that worried. She's at peace. That kind of cheers me up. I start to smile. I laugh a little and I shake my head. As we carry her out of the garage I look at both Soda and Clutch. "I don't know what you two did but I know you both deserved it." Everyone looks at me like I've just lost my fucking mind. I don't give a fuck. I know just from looking at them and at her that they had to have been fucking with her again for her to do them like that. It's really their own fault. I start to laugh as we carry her out.

We wait until we're on the other side of the garage before we set her on her feet. She hangs her head a little. She seems upset. I ask her what's wrong.

"Cube… I'm…"

"Hey!" Corn yells from where he is (keeping Clutch's head elevated) "I said get her out of here! Take her somewhere!"

I roll my eyes. I take her by the hand. "Come on. Let's get something to eat, okay?" She nods. I turn to Combo. "You coming?"

He thinks for a moment. "I should probably leave you two alone, but hey, I can eat."

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**_In case you didn't catch on, this chapter was parrallel to chapter 3. I hope you liked it. please read and review._**


	5. Reconciliation

_**I don't own JSRF…I **__**DO**__** own this fic so don't plagiarize… been a minute, huh?**_

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**Reconciliation **

_**(Gum/Cube)**_

**Shickystyle:**_** Definitely working on not forcing the sex scenes. I think I'm going to save it for the end or something like that, for now I'm just trying to work on their feelings and shit. **_

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**99****th**** Street, Blackout District- 6:47pm**

We got something to eat and after a while Combo headed back to the garage. Cube and I have decided to go back to the hotel. I don't have anywhere else to go… I want to avoid going back to the garage until Corn cools down and I don't really feel like dealing with my mom and step-dad, they'll just get on my ass about where I've been for the past few days. _"Where have you been… are you one of those hoodlums running around spray painting on everything… are you still hanging around that girl… who have you been with… are you out there having sex with God knows who… are you doing drugs… what are you doing about money… when are you going to stop all of this and grow the hell up… no I won't leave you alone… answer me!"_ I don't like answering their questions, they give me headaches. Cube doesn't ask me questions… speaking of Cube, she doesn't have anywhere to go herself. She lives in the hotel now. Maybe I **should** get a job… I'll get a job and she'll get a job and we'll move into a crappy little apartment together and bring all of our stolen crap with us and she'll be happy and I'll be happy because we'll be able to just be together like now. I glance at her. Her attention is on where she's going rather than me… that's good, I don't really want her to look at me while I'm looking at her. Maybe that sounds a bit strange but I'd rather her not be looking at me right now. I can tell that she's still hurt. She doesn't want to talk about it though… I wonder what she's thinking right now. I wonder what she thinks of me right now. I still feel like shit because I still haven't apologized to her.

She slightly ahead of me so I speed up a little and I take hold of her hand. She slows to a stop and looks back at me. Her face is without expression, she was thinking. I want to smile at her but I can't bring myself to do it. We're going through the blackout district so there isn't anyone around us right now. I'm still holding her hand I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a second.

"What's up?" she asks me.

"…" I open my mouth to respond but I can't say anything. _Damn._ I let go of her hand, sigh and look down at my skates. I look back up at her and she sighs. She takes my wrist and leads me to the hotel. She pulls me forward and wraps her arm around mine. She's quiet but I think she knows that I want to apologize. That I feel terrible about what I did and said… or better yet, what I didn't say.

**Gentle Arms Love Hotel Rm. 507- 7:15pm**

Cube sits in her massage chair and starts drinking from a bottle of Vodka that she's had for three days. I turn on the Christmas lights and go over to my usual chair. I slump into the chair across from her. I cover my eyes with my hand for a few minutes. I need to relax. Calm down and relax so I can say what I need to say to her. But it'll be hard… it'll be genuinely hard to just say it to her. _What if it doesn't come out right… what if I hurt her feelings… what if… what if I make her cry again… _That was a terrible feeling to know that I'd made her cry. She was always so strong, so composed and underneath all of that she was so happy, content… it was a terrible feeling to know that I took all of that from her in an instant. From strength to weakness, composure to anxiety, happiness and contentment to misery and uncertainty. I hurt her… badly. I want to at least try and restore her strength and composure. I want her to like me again.

I could almost cut the tension with a knife. I uncover my eyes and look at the ground, my helmet's on the floor. _Must've left it there._ I look over at her, she's slumped, her head is bowed and she's covering her eyes. I should say something to her… anything. Just to remove some of the tension. "Hey, Cube?"

"Hm?" she doesn't look up at me.

"Um… do you remember that time that we were playin' hockey on the roof?" She looks up at me. It's weird, she has this shocked look on her face and she stares blankly at me for a few seconds. "Cube?"

She blinks. "Huh?"

I shake my head. "Never mind."

She raises an eyebrow. She continues to stare at me but she soon shifts her eyes to the wall.

I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. "Cube?"

She re-focuses on me. She looks at me half-expectantly. I don't think she actually expects me to say it. "Hm?"

My mouth goes dry and starts to taste like morning-breath. My lungs tighten slightly. "I…"

She's still looking at me. She looks disinterested in what I have to say now.

"I'm…"

She rolls her eyes then she closes them. She rests her chin on her knuckles.

I bow my head and look at my feet. It inhale deep through my nose and just let it out. "Cube I love you!"

Her head snaps to attention. She's absolutely stunned. "Y… you lo… what?"

I suck in more air. "I'm not in love with you… but… I love you. Cube, you're my best friend. I can't really imagine not havin' you around. It… it just wouldn't feel right. Look… I know I fucked up. I know I overreacted to that kiss. I understand how you feel…"

She shakes her head at me. "No, you don't."

"Cube–"

She raises a palm to me and I close my mouth. "Gum… Yasu… I don't make it a habit to go around telling everyone that I'm gay. I'm afraid to tell anyone because they always react badly. You aren't the first girl I came out to y'know… there were two others. One of them called me a freak. She hit me a few times, called me a bunch of names and shit and did whatever she could to make me miserable from that point on. I put up with it until she told everyone about it and I gave her a concussion."

My fingers cover my lips. "That's awful…"

She raises her index finger to me and I silence myself and listen. "I'd only known the first girl for a couple of weeks so it was stupid of me to tell her… but the second girl… she hurt me even worse. She was my friend… at the time my best friend. I'd known her for months. She was always so kind to me. She always would ask me to come with her wherever she was going. We always had fun together… and I could always open up to her and tell her if anything was bothering me and vice versa." The look on her face almost cheers me up, she looks so happy thinking about this girl. "I finally decided to do it. I asked her to go with me to a place that we would go to be alone. I told her almost everything. I told her that I was in love with her. I told her that I understood if she didn't feel the same way about me. Do you know what she said?" I shook my head. She bows her head and looks down at her feet. She continues. "She told me that she was okay with it. It didn't bother her… she didn't feel that way about me but it didn't bother her if I was attracted to her, to girls in general. We had some other stuff planned for that day so we went ahead with it all and we went home. You know what though?" I leaned onto the edge of my seat. "After that day…" I notice a little sparkle, and I look at the carpet… there's a spot; another one appears… then another and another. I look up at her. She looks up and tears are streaming down her face. They're rushing down her beautiful face and a part of me dies when I see them. She's biting her bottom lip just slightly to stop herself from quivering. She takes a breath and opens her mouth to speak, pausing just slightly so she can catch her breath. "She never spoke to me again. She… she didn't want anything to do with me."

I'm about to cry now… is that what she thought I was going to do… **was** that what I was going to do? Could I have done that to her? "Is that what you thought I was goin' to do, Cube? You thought I was goin' to…" She wipes her face and nods. I'm crying now; I can't help it. "Do you really think I'm that heartless?" She's still crying. I get up and cross the room to her. I drop to my knees at her feet and place my hand on her thigh… then I slide it up to her hip and rest my head on her thigh. "Didn't I just tell you Yu… do I have to repeat myself?" She looks confused. She isn't sure how to react to my actions. "I love you. You're my best friend… and I'd never do anything like that to you. I… I feel fuckin' terrible about all of this. I never meant to hurt you so badly… but I did… and I feel like shit for it. I'm sorry… I'm so fuckin' sorry and… I'll never hurt you like that again..."

She looks at me silently for a moment. She reaches her hands down lefts my head off of her thigh. She holds me there for a moment and then her voice slips out in a hoarse whisper. "Do you promise?" She's managed to stop crying but she's still sniffling.

I raise myself off of the ground and pull up to her. I manage to slip my arms around her and I squeeze next to her in the chair. "I swear it to you." She wraps her arms around me. We hold each other for a little while. When she let's go of my I follow suit but I continue to gaze at her. I place my hand to her cheek. She so warm, but her cheeks are still wet. I try to wipe off some of the tears. I never take my eyes off of her and… I do something that surprises her and me…

I kiss her.

I kiss her gently on her cheek. Her eyes widen. I put my arms around her again and I lock her in my embrace. "Cube… are we cool?"

She looks down for a moment then back up at me. "Yeah… we're cool… what are you gonna do about Corn and the others? Are you gonna go back and see what's up?"

I think about that for a moment. _What __**am**__ I gonna do?_ I know I can't go pleasantly strolling back into the garage like nothing happened. This wasn't me just losing my temper… I beat up two guys and stabbed one of them. Granted I hated them but still… "I think… I think I should lay low for a while and let shit settle before I go back… maybe for a couple'a days…"

"So stay here… nobody else knows where we are and I won't mind you being around now that we're okay."

I look up at her. My arms are still around her. I can't help but smile at her. "Okay… yeah, that'll work." She let's me go and stands up to stretch… I didn't want her too, she was pretty warm.

"Are you tired?" she asks me and I immediately know that she is.

"Yeah… you?"

"Yeah… you want to sleep first?"

I contemplate… we're both equally tired… "The beds here are pretty big… let's just share one today."

Her eyes bug at me again. "Um… okay… " She folds her arms and a wry smile spreads across her face. "You aren't gonna do anything… inappropriate to me, are you?" She's joking.

I get up and stretch. "I'm not makin' any promises."

We grab a couple of bats and leave the room, locking up behind us. We cross the hall and enter our "bedroom." I watch her take off her shorts. I take off my skirt. We both leave our shirts on. She crawls into the bed. I close the door and lock it before I cross to the other side of the bed and lay down. It's dark; we can't use the outlets in here so we can't string up the Christmas lights because the outlets don't work. I'm facing away from her. It's quiet for a while. I decide to speak to her. "Cube?"

"Hm?" she answers.

"Thanks… for forgiving me."

"I don't like seeing you beat yourself up."

"Oh… well still thank you."

"You're welcome." We're quiet for about a minute. "Gum?"

"Yeah?"

"… I'm glad we're friends again."

I feel a warm sensation in my chest and a smile crosses my face. I roll over in the bed. "Yeah… I am too." I stretch my hand out and let it rest on hers.

The last thing I remember is that she fell asleep before me.

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_**We're not quite there yet, but it should be coming within the next few chapters. It took me a while to get this one down because I wanted it to be a touching moment. I think when I finish the story I may make some revisions to every chapter but I'm not worried about that just yet. **_

_**Also I'd like to put a shout out to Bagatelle as well as ask all of you to please read and review her work. It's all very good and worth a read (this shout out will also appear in GG:A&M).**_

_**Please Review this chapter.**_

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